U.S. Attorney Jim Letten could use a friend. No doubt more than one convicted pol feels the schadenfreude there, which is precisely why Letten could use a friend.

Ensnared in a controversy of his underlings' making, the popular (with the public, anyway) and effective Letten has felt the ground quake under him. For years now, Letten has performed admirably as the top federal prosecutor around New Orleans, a region in which such an official has lamentably permanent value. Dozens of aggressive, successful pursuits of elected crooks have a way of burnishing a U.S. attorney's reputation, if making him few friends among malefactors and the defense bar.

Consequently, until this year, when the boneheaded cyberspace antics of former assistant U.S. attorney Sal Perricone and first assistant and criminal division chief Jan Mann emerged, Letten's track record and status were sterling.

That may not be enough to save him, given that Letten serves at the pleasure of a president of different political persuasion and in a city owned by elected officials who share the president's D. To be sure, Letten, as captain of the feds' local prosecutorial ship, ultimately bears responsibility for the online salvos of loose cannon staff.

Yet given his accomplishments, the fact his office has recused itself from the developing case against landfill operator Fred Heebe on which Perricone and Mann opined online, and no suggestion any of the office behavior was criminal, the case for Letten's dismissal seems dubious. Indeed, the court has already tossed a motion by Dominick Fazzio, a former executive with Heebe's garbage business, to dismiss his indictment.

Honesty thus compels that the fig leaf of public safety be ripped from this nascent movement to oust Letten, and its real purpose acknowledged: raw political patronage.

The water around Letten bloodied with the release last week of a letter from U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-New Orleans). Though couched in language of "trust and accountability," Richmond's letter was a naked attempt to give his team another plum appointment. There is zero evidence at the moment suggesting Letten's removal will make the Justice Department's Eastern District of Louisiana a scarier place for bad guys.

Now, as noted, removing Letten is President Obama's prerogative. That does not change what should be the abiding question, which is: does Jim Letten's performance to date make him the best man for the job? If the answer is yes, he should keep it.

To do so, though, he could use a friend and so far he doesn't seem to have one. It's curious that his successes have made those who might come to his assistance quiet players in the political game. Sen. David Vitter, for instance, helped Letten keep his job when Obama was first elected. Strong support from Vitter now would make it harder for those who want their own man in Letten's place to remove him.

Vitter's lukewarm backing could be construed as a vote of no-confidence. Vitter's political foes may be quick to link his current stance to the senator's past preference for Heebe as U.S. attorney. It is also a matter of public record that Heebe, who finds himself in the cross-hairs of the investigation that prompted Perricone's and Mann's once-anonymous sniping, contributed to Vitter's legal defense fund.

But all that was true before when Vitter's firm support of Letten helped box in his Democratic counterpart, Sen. Mary Landrieu, when a change in U.S. attorney was most likely in 2009 -- after Obama's first inauguration.

Thus far Landrieu, like Vitter, has tread carefully. Their boilerplate statements have melded praise for Letten's history with concerns about recent developments. It could be that Landrieu is letting Richmond float a trial balloon about ousting Letten, and planning a recommendation to Obama only if it fails to generate any return fire. It may also be that the senators fear another shoe will drop.

Certainly the fact Mann's online dabbling surfaced so long after Perricone's could contribute to that fear. The gap makes Letten, who has thus far declined to address Mann's actions or her demotion, appears an even more dilatory boss. And U.S. District Judge Ginger Berrigan, in denying Fazzio's motion to dismiss his indictment, did indicate she found "credible and therefore disturbing" evidence of prosecutorial misconduct, which could queer the case at trial.

In other words, Letten's got a heap of issues right now. His office also has a heap of cases, however, and if past performance is indicative of future results, Letten could use a friend.